For four women’s soccer and seven volleyball teams, the road to the national championship begins in Eau Claire.
Bollinger Field and McPhee Center will be the site of Div. III regionals this week as the Blugold squads hope to advance further into postseason play.
The women’s soccer team won the WIAC tournament championship with its win over UW-Oshkosh, gaining an automatic bid into nationals.
The team will take its 21-2 record into its first round match up Concordia-Moorhead (Minn.), champions of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a 12-5-3 record. The game will start at 11 a.m. Saturday.
The winner will face the Augustana (Ill.)-Grinnell (Iowa) winner at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Though the Blugold volleyball team lost its WIAC title game to UW-Whitewater, it still gained entry into the NCAA tournament and might have a chance at a rematch with the Warhawks.
The ‘Golds will face Carthage at 8:30 p.m. Thursday. If they are victorious, they play Friday at 4:30 p.m. against the winner of Beloit-Concordia-Moorhead (Minn.) game.
The winner of that game then plays in the Sweet 16 at 7 p.m. Saturday against one of the three other teams in the region, UW-Whitewater, UW-Oshkosh or St. Thomas (Minn.).